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We comic book nerds are very good at remembering controversial storylines - tales that either did not impress or, in some cases, outright enraged readers. But how often do you think about stories that only might have been controversial? Well, if you're a regular reader of Tom Brevoort's newsletter, you were thinking about just that this week.

Man with a Hat, Brevoort's weekly substack, is always a great place to look for the future of Marvel comics and, occasionally, what the past could have looked like, if an editorial decision was made differently. Case in point: Brevoort's dissection of the 1996 miniseries Spider-Man: The Final Adventure, which Brevoort revealed was planned with a different, darker ending than what fans actually got. The topic came up when a reader going by the name Evan “Cool Guy” asked Brevoort for any memorable times the longtime Marvel editor had to "put your foot down" in a comic. Bevoort's answer was as follows:

"The first thing that comes to mind is when I was working on Spider-Man: The Final Adventure, a limited series that was meant to be the last gasp for Peter Parker as Spider-Man. It was intended to end with the birth of Pete and MJ’s child, but halfway through, a decision was made to radically change direction and to get Pete back into the Spidey costume on a regular basis as soon as was possible."

To add some context here - Spider-Man: The Final Adventure took place right around the Clone Saga, another infamous Spidey story, which introduced the Peter Parker clone Ben Reilly into Marvel continuity. Presumably, this story was originally intended put Ben in the Spidersuit for the foreseeable future until, as Brevoort explains above, the Powers that Be decided that Peter should keep wearing it. Marvel even had an idea for how they'd strip away Peter's decision to give up being Spider-Man to becme a full-time dad... and it was a dark plan.

"I was told to end the series with MJ having a miscarriage," Brevoort writes.

Pretty intense, no? Well, Tom Brevoort thought so, leading to one of his earliest decisions to, as Evan "Cool Guy" says, put his foot down.

"I refused to do that. I told my boss Bob Budiansky quite bluntly that I wasn’t going to go down in history as the person who aborted the Spider-Baby."

And yeah, that would be a not-great thing to be remembered for, though as we recall, the designation did get passed down to different creators down the line. But what of Spider-Man: The Final Adventure? Did Brevoort's choice save the book? Well, the fact that you may not have heard of the miniseries is a partial answer to that question, as is the fact that Peter Parker (and not Ben Reilly) is still very much a Spider-Man. But in Brevoort's own words:

"Consequently, that entire decision [about the baby] was kicked further down the line—MJ wound up being pregnant for something like two years before it was all settled—and the ending to our series was a bit of a damp squib. But it wasn’t a horror show, so there’s that."

Well Tom, maybe "damp squib" is a bit harsh, if moderately fun to say. (You can judge for yourself; the whole thing is available on Marvel Unlimited.) Still, the story is perhaps an important lesson for Big Two creators: If given the choice between making a story that's forgotten or despised, maybe getting forgotten isn't that bad.

We comic book nerds have long memories, after all.

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's 10 best Spider-Man comic books, our Spider-Man movie watch order, and if you want our opinions on the subject, read our articles ranking Spider-Man's actors and Spider-Man's girlfriends.